Plein Air Painting Demo

Went to my meeting for the Mid American Pastel Society this evening in Prairie Village, Kansas. My friend, Gary Ozias gave a demonstration of painting "en plein air". As I have stated previously, he is an avid outdoor painter.
Here is his backpack - weighs about 20-30 pounds depending on whether he is packing oil paints or pastels - pastels weigh more. He was giving this presentation to show others what to take into the field and offer some do's and don't's for painting outside. Then he moved onto actually doing a pastel landscape.

I listened and observed carefully, as he has a really nice method
of doing trees and skies and sky holes.

His painting demo was a big hit and
everyone was very interested in his pastels and his painting.
As you can see, it was a nice one!

Way to go - Gary! Thanks for a super view into "how it's done"! Now I wish I had brought my pastels with me. I am psyched. Hey, I know...my sister-in-law who lives here, has some in her kitchen drawer. She uses them to write on the little chalkboard of one of her "chef" dolls in the kitchen.

Breeze into KC/Memorial Day travel

Visiting my family in KC. Had dinner at my brother and his wife's last night. It's raining here, too. Boy what a wet May time! I am happy to report - the world of Kansas is very green!

Mom and Dad watching a pool game.


This is bro - we had him laughing taking simultaneous photos of him shooting pool.
I filled up at the gas pump leaving town, didn't look at the price, didn't get a receipt on purpose, because I was coming - no matter what!

Where I Stand Sunday

Oh - faithful companion - look out onto the world.
Assess if it's safe..assess if it's wild.
Your keen senses tell beyond what I comprehend.
What scents are on the wind, what sounds are on the rise?
Be forever watchful, be forever wise.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. If you would like to also post this subject, please let me know. There are several of us (see my sidebar) and we would love to add your blog to our list.
Be sure to check out my "sketch" blog here.

Another Helping of That

First, take a look at my additional sketching blog.
Click on "That Sketchy Feeling" in the sidebar.

Second, we had more t-storms, tornado warnings and high wind last evening. This morning we woke up to see the water OVER the bridge. To the left of the guardrail, there is about a 10 foot drop off, where the cattle used to be...they have been moved. The horse got cornered on a little island of land, in the corner of this fenced pasture/corral. He seemed to be OK, although remembering the violence of the wind and rain, I feel he needs a shelter for the next round.

All we could do last night was listen to the scanner, stand at the back door and listen, cause at night, you can't see anything until the lightning strikes...and that is only a quick flash to scan the sky. It was a little dizzying when the yard light would go out from the lightning and it was pitch dark, very eerie. This morning we took a trip to the corn field to see if any seeds were floating out of their little beds, and didn't see any. Hubster made the ground pretty level in his prep. Luckily - all the systems we have in place to survive these things are working..it just makes for little sleep.
No trip today. I am staying here until we get less severe weather. It's a lot to go through on your own.

NO FISHING

As some of you know, yesterday afternoon's news from Colorado was there was a devastating tornado in the Windsor/Greeley area. Usually what happens in that part of Colorado - does NOT stay in that part of Colorado, it moves eastward. It did. Strong thunderstorms developed west of us, encroaching into Kansas and Nebraska. We were on alert, as large "rotating" systems were on the rise. Hey, we live in the middle of Kansas! Actually another storm system was creeping up from the south. It was slipping ever so slightly towards us, with reports of large hail, strong winds and tornadic activity. Please know that it is almost the anniversary of the storm that nearly took us away last year. So, we were a little schizo. The storm made it's way into Nebraska, with a prediction that it would leave heavy rains here, starting at midnight. Midnight it was! Makes for difficult time sleeping.
By this morning, it was still raining. And the light show, was unbelievable!
Yesterday, we planted a large pole into the bottom of the dry pond and painted stripes on it at 1 foot, 2 feet and 3 feet, then there was the top of the pole. By 10 AM this morning, the pole was submerged...you couldn't see it at all. Here are some photos of the flooding that has happened.
First - the crop fields to the west of us have been realigning their "run off" pattern.

This area is usually dry. Next, you can now watch a good sized creek running along the tree line toward the pond.

The trouble for us now, is that there is no culvert to allow the water to flow from the pond to across Ticky Road and on through the woods to the creek.
This is the pond, the next photo is the overflow across the road.


The creek has overflowed, also. If you look here, at the last photo in that post, you can see what it looked like before the flooding happened.

The water is up to the bottom of the bridge.

and this is how saturated the ground is.

My garden is floating. We can't get up to the corn to see it, cause the road is full of rushing water at the pond. And...there is more predicted for later today and tonight. I was going to KC today, but postponed my travel for at least today.
So, the sign says this -

and we need to add - "no fishing". I think all you would find are toads or snakes anyway!

Plein Air Painting

When artists go outside and paint the outdoors by standing at their easel with their paints or pastels and looking at the landscape or scenery, it is called "en plein air" (in the open air) painting. There are many groups around the world that are formed by members who are artists who enjoy the benefits of working from life outdoors.
You have to be quick. The light changes very fast. Just like - you wouldn't expect to take great photos at noon - the sun and lack of shadows leave a lot to be desired in the contrast area, the same goes for the views you are painting. You also need to paint small, because you have to get the view down quickly and the other, sometimes the wind comes up. Can't you just see the artist flying through "en plein air"? You could here - most days!
One of my artist friends in Downs, Gary Ozias, paints outdoors a lot. He promises to call me soon, so a bunch of us can get together some day and together "attack" the countryside. At our monthly MAPS meeting in KC this month, he will give a presentation on the subject. He IS "Mr. Plein Air". Another painter I admire is Montana artist, Deb Schmit, who some days paints with her friends and colleagues "en plein air".
While reading some of the posts on Charley Parker's lines and colors blog, I came across an artist, Daniel Hauben, who paints on the streets of the Bronx. I hope you will read about his experience when painting a Superette. I got such a laugh from it.
How many of you practice your art "en plein air"?

Rough Night

"Rough Night" - 6" x 8" oil on canvasboard

Continuing to practice getting the skintones right, with oil paint. This is just a practice piece. You may recognize her, it's my stepdaughter that I did a pastel of here. This source was a cell phone photo. So why do I keep choosing these photos that aren't helping me much? Don't know. It must be the part of me that requires challenges a little beyond the norm when it comes to doing just about anything. I am just that way with (especially) art. If I had my way - and the materials - I would be doing 'wall sized' people - the size of what Denny Dent's Art Attack did here. Saw him at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver years ago, and it was one of those memorable, life changing events. He painted Bruce Springsteen or maybe it was Bob Dylan and John Lennon on canvas as big as billboards. He died at the age of 55, in 2004. You can see his performance art pieces here.
The way the painting above came out, it reminded me of him.